January 30, 2025 - 12:00am

It was only fair for Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to get grilled by Democrats and Republicans in the Senate this week. He’s a proud critic of the Beltway establishment who regularly implicates leaders of both parties in serious — and sometimes far-fetched — plots against the public. He’s a newcomer to one party and convert from the other, inviting reasonable scepticism from both.

After months of building momentum and the Sisyphean confirmation of Pete Hegseth last week, two GOP sources with knowledge of the confirmation felt nervous about Kennedy’s odds on Wednesday morning. Although one source in the hearing said that “the room was totally with him”, the audience’s support wasn’t matched by the Finance Committee’s. GOP senators like Bill Cassidy and James Lankford interrogated Kennedy on abortion. So, too, did Democrats from Catherine Cortez Masto to Bernie Sanders, who demanded Kennedy explain his rationale for backing the anti-abortion GOP.

Most discussion of Kennedy’s conspiratorial leanings came from Democrats. Under intense scrutiny from Democrat Ron Wyden, the aspiring health secretary stated: “I support the measles vaccine. I support the polio vaccine. I will do nothing as HHS secretary that makes it difficult or discourages people from taking either of those vaccines”. “Anybody who believes that ought to look at the measles book you wrote saying parents have been misled into believing that measles is a deadly disease,” Wyden replied. “That’s not true.”

When I asked Alabama Sen. Tommy Tuberville, a standard Trump-supporting Republican, about Kennedy several weeks ago, he expressed total confidence in the nominee and sympathy with his position on American health. At a swing-strict polling location days before the November election, I even watched GOP voters dance with a life-size cutout of RFK Jr.

Kennedy’s hearing could have been scripted in advance by casual observers of the Senate. Neither the rancour or the praise comes as a surprise. Scepticism is clearly warranted of a convert and reformer asking to take the helm of a massive regulatory agency. It’s also entirely possible that Bernie Sanders talked tough to make a “yes” vote go down more easily with the Left.

Kennedy, it mustn’t be forgotten, is now extremely popular with Republican voters. As the confirmation hearing got underway, Harry Enten, senior date reporter of CNN, posted on X: “The transformation of RFK Jr.’s favourability ratings is astounding [..]. He’s one of the most popular people in the country among the GOP. Last Ipsos poll has him at a +60 pt net favourability. Dem hate RFK Jr, but with a GOP Senate majority… He’s a favourite for confirmation.”

If Republicans can’t get Kennedy across the finish line, Trump may still find another position for him. It may even be a position of significant influence, even without Senate confirmation. However Sanders and other Democrats who would previously have applauded a Kennedy nomination (Barack Obama almost did it) vote this time around, MAHA is now a part of the Republican Party — whether either party likes it or not.

Voting against Kennedy will not purge MAHA. For Senators on the Left with principled objections to the status quo of American health, though, voting against him could squander a rare opportunity for total reform. “This is our last chance”—which seems to be what the public actually wants.


Emily Jashinsky is UnHerd‘s Washington D.C. Correspondent.

emilyjashinsky